A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Back at the Marshal's residence, Gui'er was puzzled and asked Sha Yanxiao, "What were you guys talking about just now?"

Sha Yanxiao smiled and touched Gui'er's face, saying, "Children, don't meddle in adult affairs. You do your homework here, and I'll go to the water dungeon to take a look."

When Gui'er heard this, she immediately became energetic and said quickly, "I want to go too."

Sha Yanxiao smiled helplessly, took her, and drove to a remote courtyard in the Marshal's Mansion. It looked inconspicuous from the outside, but there was a guard with a live ammunition guarding the door, which made Gui'er feel very unusual. When Sha Yanxiao walked to the door, the guard stood at attention and said, "Open the door."

The guard quickly took out the key and opened the door. Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er in. The yard was empty and paved with gravel. There were a few simple tiled houses in the middle. It looked ordinary. Gui'er followed Sha Yanxiao and found that there were stone steps leading down after entering the house. The house was dark and damp, and the walls were covered with moss. Sha Yanxiao walked down the stone steps. The aisle became narrower and narrower, and could barely accommodate one person.

On either side of the hallway were separate small rooms, each only a few square meters in size, with the floor about a meter lower than the hallway. Some were filled with water, while others were empty. The doorway to each room was welded shut with thick iron rods, so tightly that even an adult's hand couldn't reach through. There was only a small door below the iron door that could be opened, presumably for delivering food.

Guier couldn't see that there were people locked up in those small rooms. Basically, there was one person in each room, all men, because they ate, drank, defecated and urinated in the rooms. The smell was so bad that it made it impossible to open your eyes.

Guier looked carefully at one of the rooms. The man was wearing a long gown and standing numbly in the water. Although the water only reached his thighs, his whole body was wet. After thinking about it, Guier understood that he must be tired of standing and had to sit in the water to rest, so his upper body was wet. The man's expression was numb and he was indifferent when he saw someone walking by the door.

Suddenly, there was a bang, Guier was startled and turned around to look. The man suddenly walked to the door of the small room, stretched out his fingers through the iron bars, and stared at Guier.

Sha Yanxiao raised his foot and kicked the man's outstretched finger. The man screamed and pulled his hand back. Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er in his arms and continued walking forward. He looked down at Gui'er as he walked. Seeing that her face was a little pale, he said, "He is the murderer who wiped out the whole family. He will be executed in the autumn. Don't pay any attention to him."

It would have been better if he didn't say anything, because after he said that, Gui'er became even more frightened.

After walking forward through several rooms, Sha Yanxiao stopped in front of one of them. Guier looked inside and saw the eighth concubine. She was wearing a hospital gown, with disheveled hair and a baby in her arms. She was standing in the middle of the dungeon, staggering and looking like she was about to give up.

The Eighth Concubine heard the noise and turned to see Sha Yanxiao. She stumbled to the door and said weakly to Sha Yanxiao, "Second Young Master, I didn't commit adultery. Please save us."

Sha Yanxiao looked at her for a few seconds and said to the guard, "Open the door."

The guard quickly opened the door, and Sha Yanxiao said to the eighth concubine, "Let me see the child."

The eighth concubine hesitated for a moment, but still handed the baby over. Sha Yanxiao took the baby and examined it, then returned it. He turned to the guard and asked, "Has anyone else come here in the past two days besides me?"

The guard said, “No.”

Sha Yanxiao said, "Pump out the water and give her something to eat."

The guard saluted and said, "Yes."

Then Sha Yanxiao turned around and left. Gui'er was confused, but didn't know what to say, so she had to follow him out.

Back in the courtyard, Gui'er asked Sha Yanxiao, "Why don't you just release the Eighth Concubine? The environment there is really too bad. She just gave birth, and if she stays there for too long, she might get sick."

Sha Yanxiao said, "We can't rush this matter. My wife knows about it, but she hasn't taken any action. We need to find a suitable time."

Gui'er had no choice but to worry. She didn't dare to go play with Tong Yujun when she went to school the next day.

But at dinner in the evening, the lady suddenly brought up the matter and asked the commander, "I wonder how the master plans to deal with this matter?"

The Marshal's face was gloomy. He said, "Why bring up this little whore? Tell her family to go to the hospital and take her back."

Sha Yanxiao interrupted, "She's not in the hospital right now. I went to the water dungeon yesterday to count the prisoners being executed, and I found her there. I saw the son she gave birth to, and his little toenail was forked. You told me this is a characteristic of our Sha family, right?"

When the Marshal heard this, his eyes widened and he asked, "Is it true? Have you really seen a split toenail? How did she end up in the dungeon?"

She didn't even bother to eat and was about to get up to go to the dungeon. The fourth concubine said quickly, "The Marshal has been busy all day. Let's eat first and find someone to release her."

The Marshal quickly asked his adjutant to release the eighth concubine.

The Fourth Concubine said to the Marshal in a charming and charming manner, "Marshal, weren't you very angry with Eighth Sister before? Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

The Marshal glared at her and she immediately shut up and dared not speak anymore.

After a while, the adjutant brought the eighth concubine over, but the eighth concubine walked very slowly and the Marshal became a little impatient.

After a lot of effort, the eighth concubine came to the center of the hall. The Marshal said impatiently, "Where is the child?" A nanny following behind the eighth concubine came forward holding a baby and handed the child to the Marshal.

The Marshal eagerly took the baby and took a look at it, then laughed heartily and said, "Yes, it's my Sha family's child."

Then, as if suddenly coming to his senses, he said to the Eighth Concubine, "Xiao Ba, you've worked hard. Why are you in the dungeon?"

By this time, the eighth concubine had changed her clothes. She was wearing a thick coat and a forehead bandage inlaid with pearls. Except for her pale face, to outsiders, she looked no different from other wealthy young ladies who were in confinement after childbirth.

The Eighth Concubine said sadly, "After I gave birth in the hospital, my Fourth Sister took me out and told me to go home. But she ended up putting us and my child in a water dungeon..."

Before he could finish his words, the fourth concubine rushed in and said, "Marshal, you can't blame me for this. I saw you were so angry at the time, so I wanted to vent your anger. Although now it seems that the child is yours, there is no way to prove that she didn't have an affair with that man."

When the Marshal heard this, his face darkened again.

The Eighth Concubine was horrified when she heard this and cried in defense, "I really didn't."

At this moment, Sha Yanxiao suddenly spoke up, "Father, the Tong family heard we beat that man up, so they came to me and told me that he had eloped with an actor to escape his engagement, and that their families had long since fallen out. It's impossible for the Eighth Concubine to have had an affair with him. Boss Tong also said that your sister's birth of a boy is a happy occasion, and they're willing to add another dowry and give you the Guangzhou brewery."

The Marshal's expression changed and he said, "Really?"

Sha Yanxiao clapped his hands. Dali came in with a bottle of wine. Sha Yanxiao took it, handed it to the Marshal, and said, "This is the wine produced by their family's winery."

The Marshal opened the bottle cap, sniffed it, poured a glass, drank it all, and laughed: "Good wine, you go tell my brother-in-law that our little eight has worked hard to give birth to a child, and hold a good full moon banquet, and then use the drunken wine to entertain the guests."